Airbnb raises $7.2 million in funding

Airbnb, the San Francisco startup that lets people rent out a couch, spare room or that villa that’s gathering dust in Napa, has raised $7.2 million in funding and said it expects to reach 1 million room nights booked through its site by the end of the year.

That’s a lot of air beds.

Airbnb said it’s been busy expanding its site, which now lists vacancies in 8,000 locations around the globe. “To put that in perspective, we’re in more cities than Starbucks,” said Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb.

Some 80 percent of the total rooms booked on the site have happened in the past six months and it’s expecting that the holidays, particularly New Year’s, will draw even more people.

It also launched an iPhone app and a daily deals feature that lets travelers book exotic locals at a discounted price. Potential hosts can also see how much their place is worth through the iPhone app, which calculates a ballpark price based on the location and the amount of space available. And to speed up the process, travelers can book certain places instantly instead of waiting to hear back from the hosts.

The new funding, which brings the total to $7.8 million, comes from Sequoia Capital and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn who is now with Greylock Partners. Airbnb said it plans to use the money to expand the site internationally. It is also looking to fill 40 job openings. The Chronicle first wrote about Airbnb here.